Saturday, January 19, 2013

Video: Cleaning robot wants to be a Roomba for your windows

Most of us are familiar with robots that can clean floors like the Roomba, but they aren't much use when it comes to that bane of household chores, cleaning the windows. Enter Winbot 7, the first robot that can get out there and clean your glass without risking life or limb.

Winbot 7 uses a dual suction system that lets it stick to the vertical glass sheet like Spider-Man, mapping out a route around your panes. A three-stage cleaning system uses a wet pad, followed by a squeegee and a drying cloth to make make sure the glass ends up spotless and clear.

This sounds a whole lot safer than leaning out on your windowsill while trying reach the outside glass, and a suction cup tether makes sure that Winbot won't land on someone's head if it loses suction and slips off the glass.

The main catch I see is that, unlike a Roomba that can navigate an entire floor of your house at a time, the Winbot will need to be moved manually from window to window. Then add in having to move it from the inside to the outside of the glass and it all adds up to a lot of manual repositioning. Then again, Roomba can't do stairs, yet.

My only question is: what ever happened to Winbots 1 through 6?

Winbot 7 will be available this summer for around $300 to $400. Check out the video to see it in action.

Ecovacs, via Gizmag

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Source: http://dvice.com/archives/2013/01/finally-a-clean.php

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